John Niven's 'Kill Your Friends'

In his terrific barbed-wire of a book Kill Your Friends - about the serpentine pathways that must be negotiated by execs in the music industry - John Niven introduces us to his main character, an A&R exec called Steven Stelfox with these words.

"So here's what I do. I listen to music - singers, bands, songwriters - and decide which ones stand a good chance of commercial success. I then arrange for them to be recorded in a sympathetic manner and we, the record company, sell them to you, the general public. Sound easy? Get f***** - you wouldn't last ten minutes."

It is easily the most genial and cordial thing Steven says in the entire book.

In fact, Steven is an acidic mess of a man. Often sloshed and coked up, He acknowledges his lack of talent, but is so disparaging of the music business that he believes he is working well below his station of calling - which really should be Head of A&R at his (fictitous) label.

In one early scene, Steven is in a status update meeting with other execs at the label. A&R (Artists and Repertoire) primarily handles artist discovery and development. Rapidly Steven introduces us to his colleagues - he paints each one as a loser. He's particularly scathing on women, a behaviorial trait that often gives the book hilarious and shocking hues.

Later Niven writes a hilarious scene in which Steven is at Cannes and listening to a single produced by a German producer. It has wildly NC-17 lyrics, but the tune is ridiculously catchy. As Steven thinks his way through the pros and cons of buying the single - and subsequent marketing strategy - we get an insight into the making of a very (manufactured) hit.

Delving into Steven's mind is a technique Niven uses to great effect throughout the book. He's particularly adept at describing the blur that is Steven's life. And these descriptions are very immersive - they transport you right out of the book and into Steven's frenzied world.

Around the end of the first third, the book starts to drag just a little - primarily because Steven's cultivated dementedness begins to wear thin. But with near perfect timing, Niven has Steven indulge in an act that takes you by surprise and instantly gives the book a loose but propulsive plot.

Musical celebrities are interwoven into the fiction in this book. Each chapter describes the events of a month. Its prefaced with a summary of significant events that occured in music history - allowing the fiction to take root in the real world, and also giving us period markers.

May starts like this (links inserted by me).

"Spice Girls do massive Pepsi deal. Lots of interest in Ultrasound now. The Jamiroquai LP goes triple platinum. Audioweb's single 'Faker' charts at 70. Deconstruction signs this girl singer called Sylvia Powell...."

There are lot of details woven into Niven's story. We get great insights into how talent is scouted, coaxed, cajoled and "discovered". In a deeply amusing and interesting story arc, Steven develops a girl band with virtually no talent in the hope that they can ride post-Spice Girls Girl Power to a multiplatinum hit. One fascinating section has Steven talking about the amount of cash it takes to maintain his lifestyle.

There was one overriding concern I had while reading this book - that the central protagonists' personality would end up overpowering the story itself. Magically it doesn't happen - and 'Kill Your Friends' ends up being one hugely entertaining read of lasting impact.

Kill Your Friends: A Novel is available in the US from Harper Perrenial, a paperback imprint of Harper Collins that focusses on new and young writers.

Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 3's Personalities of the Week: Hipinder and ARA

Last week on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 3, Anand Raaj Anand humped a ladder. But before we get to that, let's talk about my other favorite - Hipinder Hopernath.

Picture Hipinder Hopernath right in front of your eyes. Then imagine putting a cross-hair on him so that he is divided up into four quadrants. Each limb is in one quadrant. If you are feeling particularly generous you can put his head into a fifth quadrant - although four should be good enough to illustrate the point.

Now each of Hipinder's four quadrants have a mini-brain of its own. I'm not sure where they are located or how the physiology works - but they are there I tell you. How do I know? Because whenever Hipinder dances, each mini-brain acts independently, thus achieving the considerable feat of moving each of the four limbs completely indepedently of each other.

To say Hipinder is uncoordinated would be too simplistic. It's like saying soccer is a game of kicking the ball. Actually soccer is a game of opening and closing spaces - and how its players play in those spaces. Similarly watching Hipinder dance is like watching an epic battle drama. Each of Hipinder's four fiefdoms battle for supremacy on the dance floor by doing what they think is best. Occassionally they form loose alliances - one foot might move in taal with say a hand. But these alliances are short lived. Then its back to Warzone Hipinder all over again.

In his wildcard performance, Hipinder's choreographer Lilian Mendes tried her best to hide him by putting him in some black mukhmali outfit and then dancing in front of him as much as possible dressed in a tasselled green number.

Anyway, back to Anand Raj Anand - who dances like the energizer bunny. The best thing about ARA is that he'll be all arms and legs but strangely enough his hips remains super tight - incapable of any coordinating movement. So when ARA dances, it appears he's executing super cool moves born of an alien race - its the physical equivalent of speaking in tongues. He's like a katputli on speed.

Last week ARA decided to pay homage to Rajnikanth. May the Gods strike me down for saying this, but Rajni - beloved though he may be around here - is an Amitabh Bachchan category dancer. So ARA would be the perfect person to execute this tribute. And what was on paper came to fruition as ARA danced like a rabid animal (in all fairness he had warned everyone that he had arrived in a "phaadu, junglee mood" - someone copyright that dialog, quick!)

After making out with his prop - a white ladder (2:32 into this vid), ARA donned Rajni style shades and yanked open the top of the ladder - which was supposed to shower flower petals all over his head. ARA got a bit carried away and lost his mark, thus causing the petals to drop in one unceremonious clump on his right shoulder.

Saroj Khan was so impressed with all this cavorting around that she called ARA "Govinda ka baap" - further fuelling the long standing rumor that Rajni might have sired most Bollywood actors from the 80s.

Sadly, neither Hipinder nor ARA are with us any longer on the show. The world of dancing weeps!

The Bollywood Strike: How a new US model could help test the waters

The Bollywood multiplex strike has far reaching implications on the economy of India's biggest industry.

It's not the first time this has happened either. Last year India's premier production house Yash Raj Films had a similar standoff - albeit smaller - that saw them take the misguided stance of releasing their much anticipated movie Tashan in standalone cinemas (i.e. cinema halls with single screens). The result: a high profile flame out that put the brakes on the careers of Saif and Kareena and began Akshay Kumar's alarming slide at the box office.

In its current form the strike is hurting a slew of good releases - hugely screwing the creative team behind each of these movies - potentially throttling or derailing careers (is that Akshay sobbing in the back that I hear?)

Just in case you need a recap and don't have time to read this great Strike tutorial, here is what has transpired.

Producers: We should be getting 50% of ticket receipts!
Multiplex owners: Hell no and why now anyway?
Producers: Because we are hurting. It costs more money to make flicks these days.
Multiplex owners: But you guys still deliver enough flops that we need to make money off the big hits to cover our expenses!
Producers: So how would 50% hurt?
Multiplex owners: Ok, how about we share more if the movie is a hit and less if it flops
Producers: Given our track record this is a bad idea. But aren't you making money off sales of those diamond encrusted samosas?
Multiplex owners: Who told you they were diamond encrusted?
Producers: We took a guess based on their price!
Multiplex owners: You're wrong and we don't make enough money off them because they are quadruple fried and the price of oil has gone up.
Producers: What about the money you make off parking?
Multiplex owners: The mall owners take that - haven't you done your homework?

Stalemate.

But there is a way to test the waters with a different distribution model. You can try it right here in the US. It's almost guaranteed to work. And Bollywood producers have virtually nothing to lose.

Recently I was invited by a composer pair to check out a movie for which they had composed the background score. The movie - a scary flick starring a veteran who chaffs at being still called a "newcomer" - wasn't playing in theaters. I realized I had three options: (1) order some pissy Shemaroo type copy (if I can find it) and wait for it to arrive (yawn!) (2) go buy a (pirated) copy for $2 at the local store or (3) ask my friend to download a (pirated) copy for me. Then pray the copy won't suck outright in all cases.

Needless to say, any which way I looked, the best options ended up with me and a pirated copy spending an evening together.

Hold that thought while we discuss another bit of economics at play. To understand this part, it helps to have a decent grip on The Long Tail phenomenon in ETail. (Read at least the introduction and first chapter of this groundbreaking book if you are interested).

The basic idea is this: although conventional wisdom says you need to sell a lot of a little to make money (the 80/20 principle), there is just as much money in selling a lot of a lot (i.e. the long tail). For the first time in retail history, the latter scenario is viable thanks to the Internet.

What is the biggest problem with Bollywood multiplex releases in the US?

Its only viable in cities with a high density of desi people (the primary Bollywood goers). In cities with a smattering of desis, keeping a Bollywood movie on a screen - even for a limited time - is not financially viable. By going the traditional (multiplex) route, producers lose out on all these small niche desi audiences all over the world. I am willing to bet these micro-markets add up to a lot of money. The only problem is - how do you deliver your movie effectively to these people without having to rent a theater?

The answer, of course, is staring every Bollywood producer in the face: its called Online Video (or if you under 15 - its called YouTube). Online Video took off a few years ago. Last year it became a commodity play. This year, there will be a shakeout. Next year - it will become a platform that every retailer will be able to embed in their online offering. Many are already doing it.

Legal, online (streaming or downloadable), on-demand Bollywood movies is a great idea. Its one I would pay up to $8 a pop for - more for a movie with Bips in it. It can be delivered anywhere to the desi diaspora. You have much better control over the quality of your product. And it'll give the pirated DVD market a serious run for its money.

My phaltu Drift advice to the Bollywood producers is this: don't wait for Hollywood to bring everything to you. You can leapfrog Hollywood here - and the economics are in your favor. There are several models available.

Strike a deal with Netflix, digitize all your flicks and take a cut for every stream or download. Strike the same deal with Blockbuster Online.

Strike a similar deal with Comcast On Demand and have copies delivered to DVRs.

Stick the damn thing on the terrific Hulu.com, break up the movie in chunks and make money off ads in and around the movie. (Google will be more than happy to strike a deal for their InVideo product)

The only fall out (other than the fact that someone will have to do some smart, creative business development) is that this will piss off US multiplex owners. Bully for you, I say.

Multiplexes - if they don't reinvent themselves - are going down in any case. Work out a deal with them where you give them two weeks (the average run time of a Hindi movie in theaters in the US) before you make online streaming available.

There might be one more excuse - you can't reach your largest audience (India) effectively with any of these models because enough people aren't online with cheap, fast connections yet. Fair enough. But you can still make enough money off international audiences with this model. The cost of entry is falling literally on a quarterly basis. Early momentum in this space will set the studios up nicely when the burgeoning number of Indians going online reaches critical mass.

And guess what it'll take to start delivering the same content and quality to new Indian audiences?

That's right - almost (next to) nothing!

Tell me about your mother on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 3

Something funny is happening on JDJ. First, it's turning a bit Freudian. And second, Judge Heehee has appointed herself the moral police of the show.

Remember how Gauhar and Hanif had verbal sparring matches on every show - and it eventually resulted in the ejection of Hanif at the hands of the judges ? That happened a couple of weeks ago.

Now paired with her new choreographer - Himanshu - Gauhar executed the following dance.

Gauhar is on the phone discussing wedding anniversary plans with Himanshu. (Stay with me here - its a dance so the phone is a fake one). Suddenly she hears a loud crash on the line. WTF? she wonders. Just then the doorbell rings. Himanshu has arrived.

"Ah you made it!" she exclaims. "How could I not for an occasion like this" says fake husband trying to cock his head cutely. Dancing ensues. Both strike numerous poses and execute a bunch of ballroom moves cocked like dancers in a Paso Doble. Then Himanshu melts away in the background. Phone rings. Gauhar picks up. "Your husband is dead!" the voice at the other ends says. Gauhar executes scenery chomping acting and crumbles to the floor.

And thus, Gauhar killed her choreographer on the show. Tremendously absorbing stuff.

"Who said models can't act" remarked Saroj Khan.

On to the whole moral police bit. Earlier this season, some dancer - I forget who - did a hugely romachuk dance on JDJ. At the end, Judge Heehee, aka Juhi Chawla, picked up the microphone and said "I loved it but you spread your legs a little too much in one move". Her implication was that the vulgarity of that move took away from the romance of the dance.

This was hilarious - the equivalent of Asha Bhonsle roasting some poor girl for singing "I wanna make love" on SRGMP - an annual event.

Ever since then I've been watching dances with bated breath, whooping with delight whenever some woman scissors her legs a little too widely. Surely, I tell myself, Judge Heehee will pounce on the poor girl! But no! Judge Heehee has not been very obliging on this front.

However, on last week's show the moral police swung into action from an unexpected quarter - and it was just as much fun to watch. Nicole Alvares, who is paired up with Karan Singh Grover aka The Hulk, danced with a blindfold (don't ask).

No sooner had the dance finished when Judge Heehee went: "The dance was great!" (waved hand around like patting down a bed sheet) "But you were peeking from under the blindfold weren't you? Come on, put your hand on your heart and admit it!"

Poor Nicole was flabbergasted. "No, No!" she insisted. Karan came to her rescue by suggesting they do the dance again to lay all doubts to rest. On hearing this Judge Heehee swallowed hard. But she kept on at it. Saroj Khan joined in. A delicious awkwardness settled in that was dispelled when Vaibhavi Merchant told everyone to take the choreographers word and get on with it.

"We used to do it when we were kids so I can tell!" continued Judge Heehee finally revealing where all this was coming from - personal childhood trauma!

What did I tell you? This show has psychological layers waiting to be peeled back like there's no tomorrow.

Arey O Sambhar

Recently the impressive library of a Chicagoland suburb decided enough Body Odor was enough. It issued a prohibition of "offensive bodily odors" on its patrons, subject to eviction from the library.

"Director Stephanie Sarnoff said the aroma would have to be so overpowering that it interfered with others' use of the facility. And while the policy stemmed from complaints about an apparently homeless person, Sarnoff said it would apply just as much to an overuse of perfume as an underuse of soap."

There is some minor controversy about how this targets homeless people and perpetuates all kinds of stereotypes. Mostly inane and boring stuff.

But speaking of stereotypes - I wonder how many people have shared this experience with me.

You go into a grocery store to shop. Suddenly the delicate aroma of Chicken Vindaloo fills the air. Wow, you tell yourself, since when did Dominick's start selling fresh Indian food? So you follow your nose (and I have a pretty sharp one) hoping it will lead you to the newly laid out Indian Groceries aisle. No more going to three different stores just to get groceries done! you smile to yourself. Only you reach the end of the trail and you find yourself staring at the rear end of a guy buying a 30 lbs bag of onions. The guy IS your Chicken Vindaloo.

Come on now, it has to be said: a number of desi people (and they probably have no clue who they are) smell like mixed vegetable curry. You run into them everywhere: the office, the store, even the library. Pretty soon you can tell from across an aisle the exact dinner menu of the person you'll surely run into when you turn the corner.

This phenomenon is exacerbated in places like Chicago because of its harsh winters. Cold weather means shuttered doors and windows. Poor ventilation. The aroma of delicious Indian food swirling around the house for weeks. Until it gets into your hair, your clothes, your jackets, your couches. Heck it probably gets into your soap as well because after a while I've noticed people just smell of the same food no matter what the time of the day is.

Once during my graduate studies, the place where I was working as a Research Assistant started hiring more students. The number of desis in our unit trebled. A perpetual aroma of desi cooking settled down in the Lab and refused to leave. I remember settling at a mainframe terminal, sniffing the keyboards and making a mental note to stop by Apoorva's home later for batatavadas. Our Professor stopped coming into our Lab. A month later she issued a memo that outlined basic courtesy to fellow lab rats. One prominent addition had been made from the memo we had all seen previously - buried under copious verbiage to cover liberal guilt was this message: "Please DO NOT smell"

Indian cooking comes with its set of challenges. Fry onions, singe some masala, roast some garlic - and you've pretty much created an aroma issue in your house. And as anyone who cooks can tell you, getting that stuff out of your house is hard. Especially if its 30F outside. Worse yet, desi aromas love fabrics! They love engulfing them, settling in them - I think there might be some molecular level bonding going on.

I remember buying rotis from a friendly neighborhood gujjuben a few years ago. I had fine tuned the entire routine - from entering the house, asking about the family, grabbing the rotis and handing over the cash - to under 3 minutes. And still I would have to dump my clothes in the laundry after I got home and shampoo furiously the next day.

Indian food aromas are like Lindsay Lohan: fast and clingy.

So what is a desi to do? I've seen people exercise a number of options.

Stop Cooking! Although you'd think this isn't a realistic option, some people actually do use it. Snooty cowards! Let's ignore them and carry on.

Bake Cookies After! This is not a good option. Cookies vs Indian Food is basically a no-contest. There is no cookie on earth that can stand up to Indian cooking. Often people will have to bake dozens of cookies just to counter the rassam they just made. These cookies, when consumed later, create their own set of issues - but those are peripheral to this post.

Use an Air Freshener! Another option used frantically by many desis but largely ineffective. Air Freshener vs Indian Food is another no-contest. Plus you pump the air in your home full of all kinds of chemicals. Pretty soon even the roaches start coughing.

Invest in a good vent! This is a reasonably sensible option, probably mostly because I've settled on it. We have two types of vents in our house. One 3000 cfm Vent Hood Fan that spits the air out of the house via a duct. And a Whole House Fan that does reasonably well in terms of clearing the air from the entire house in under 15 minutes.

Bollywood Playback Face-off: Will Mohit Chauhan eat KK's lunch?

In the sharply competitive, shifting sands of the world of Bollywood music, Mohit Chauhan is having a moment.

He's steadily wiggled himself into the mind space of several music composers - key to getting steady work in playback. He's delivered a few good hits. He now gets considered for A-list work, thus perpetuating more hits.

And in the middle of all this, as icing on the cake - he started off A. R. Rahman's highly acclaimed soundtrack to Delhi 6 with a tune so catchy, it stuck to the back of EVERYONE's ears. Not only was Masakali a huge hit, but it was a much beloved one. More importantly, it made people ask "Who is that singer?" and  compelled them to remember the answer.

Increasingly the feeling I get is that KK's reign as the Bollywood King of Mainstream Playback might be under serious threat. And I'll tell you why.

At the outset Mohit and KK appear to be very different singers. Often because Mohit has sung a lot of ballads in his career - he is referred to as a singer with a silken voice. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Mohit's voice as a matter of fact, has more depth than that. It's a burr of a voice and carries a certain leaden weight, more like cloth woven with strands of washed denim. Its his strength - it allows Mohit to infuse his singing with a variety of emotions.

One other thing worth considering - in all the singing I've heard from Mohit, his singing leans towards more traditional Indian singing. It could be part of his training. He is most at ease when negotiating the wiggles in Indian notes. Often he'll sing straight pop numbers like a ghazal singer.

KK couldn't be a more different singer in some ways. Compared to Mohit, his voice is practically uni-dimensional. But KK has two things going for him - he possesses a breezy, stylish voice and he can hit those straight notes with an unforced ease. Both these bits combined make him an ideal singer for modern day songs. (You'll hear people say KK has tremendous range. What I think people really mean is that KK can sing a wide variety of songs available to singers in Bollywood today).

But the type of songs that will be made available to both - will be similar in the filmi music duniya. Most songs available to male singers today fall into well worn categories. There is (1) the rock song (2) the pop ballad (3) the dance dhamaka and (4) the comedy romp. Sure there are other genres of music in films today - but its a mere smattering.

Of the four types of songs, strike out (4) for this simple reason: comedies operate on a smaller budget (unless its a rare sequel like Golmaal Returns). This implies a new-ish (read: economic) music director with a smaller budget. So singers like Mohit Chauhan and KK are a little out of the financial range of this genre in most cases.

KK plays in all three genres that are left. But Mohit's full throated voice is ideal for (1) the rock song and (2)  the pop ballad. He'll end up scoring over KK in both these categories. So expect more work to go his way in these areas.

This leaves (3) the dance dhamaka. KK will still do well here because his voice bears the frothiness required to carry off this genre. Sure there is Neeraj Shridhar to contend with in this space, but Neeraj's voice isn't entirely convincing when matched up with some of the Bollywood superstars (they tend to look a little puny when they sing in Neeraj's voice). KK - on the other hand - sounds great when matched up with just about anyone.

Most fortuitously for us, the soundtrack of Sikandar gives us some fascinating data to play with. Both singers have sung essentially two songs with the same lyrics - a drink-of-life reflection called 'Gulon Mein'. Mohit takes a crack at the more ruminative version composed by Justin-Uday. KK renders the breezier version composed by Sandesh Shandilya.

It's a rare chance to listen to two competing singers bring their craft in compositions that play to their respective strengths. If you'll give each one a careful listen, you'll be able to understand both singers better. I recommend you do that before placing your bets.

Regardless of the outcome of this delicious match up, singers called Atif Aslam should definitely start praying.

KK's other most recent songs:
Chand Zameen Pe (42 kms)
Aisa To Socha Na Tha (Victory)
Mere Khuda (Sorry Bhai)

Mohit's other most recent songs:
Haafiz Khuda (8x10 Tasveer)
Kuchh Khaas - with Neha Bhasin (Fashion)
Is This Love - with Shreya Ghoshal (Kismet Konnection)

One bad joke on Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 3

Just when I thought there was a crack creative team behind this year's guilty pleasure Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa 3, the entire show took a massive hit in terms of tacky potential. How so? Allow me to explain.

Last week the producers decided to add Koena Mitra to the list of contestants. This happens all the time on other shows - although with indifferent results. On the other hand, Koena - who looks uncannily like an Indian Barbie Doll (the hairline! the eyebrows!) - instantly ignited the show.

First, there were the credentials. Koena once shook her tushy in a bid to impress Sanjay Dutt while singing deeply philosophical lines like "What good is a drunk who isn't drunk?" Later she tried to seduce Anil Kapoor by washing his car. Yes, the girl has paid all kinds of dues.

On JDJ, she instantly went about cutting contestants down to size ("I'm a bigger star than Karan") and establishing alliances with others ("Ram is so cute!"). She made a bid to steal Monica Bedi's choreographer (Javed Sanadi - arguably the most compelling dancer on this show). She did all of this with a delicious nonchalance that whetted my appetite for TV trash.

And Hells Bells! She turned out to be a pretty good dancer. Dressed in a skimpy skirt and honking white boots, she danced like a slinky and devoured the camera like Lindsay Lohan. And then what happens in the results episode? She announces to everyone that she really isn't on the show but came on as an elaborate April Fool's joke. This is a terrible prank to play on audiences! It's like telling a terminally ill kid that new tests have revealed he will live and then saying "Sorry, kid. April Fool!"

This disrespect for audiences can only be atoned for by bringing Koena back and making her a permanent fixture on this show. Until then, I'm giving the entire JDJ team the Nirupa Roy grade - i.e. C minus.

Then there was this other excellent controversy - that is being handled rather poorly I might add - Gauhar Khan despising her choreographer, the rather hapless Hanif Hilal.

Early on, Gauhar - who has a laser focussed ambition and is a wee bit self-absorbed like any good model should be - let it be known that she wasn't happy being paired with Hanif. Especially after the man went out and announced that he wasn't good at "Bollywood Dance". JDJ revolves around Bollywood dance. And Gauhar is a kick-ass dancer. So this wasn't a good match up.

Gauhar refused to make lemonade with the lemon she'd been handed (and I use the word "lemon" from her perspective here). Hanif didn't help matters by not sensing what was important to Gauhar and working to make her comfortable. This resulted in a minor credit hogging controversy and major bad blood. Gauhar kept bursting into tears and acquired the reputation of a drama queen. Hanif tried to smile through it all with grace. Both resembled a couple on a very bad blind date. Much squirm inducing fun ensued.

This storm even had its own calm before. Then Hanif messed up a song mix. This made Gauhar unhappy because she felt it was too short. And it made countless of Gauhar fans unhappy because Gauhar decided to unleash a belly dance to that song that - as a result - didn't last long. (It evoked the following comment from Saroj Khan: "Kya chali hai tumhari kamar!").

Unfortunately Hanif had injured his leg during that same routine and ended up executing a brave, if farcical one-legged dance. Later using the ghisa pitaa "kayanaath" line from Om Shanti Om, he implied that Gauhar might have ill-willed the injury on him.

Just when I couldn't get enough of all of this, the whole thing came crashing down with the producers granting Gauhar's request for a Hanif replacement.

The jury is out on this one. Not in terms of whether this was right or wrong - I couldn't care less. It's just that while the ending of this arrangement saddened me, I would like to see the new bakra that arrives.

Rock On!! Revisited: I love you, man!

Often I'll get asked this question: did you like (the 2008 Bollywood hit) Rock On? And right after I say with much honesty, "Why yes, I very much did" I'll get asked "What is it about that movie that people like so much?"

After acknowledging that there is a legion out there that was left cold by the movie, I always come up with something inarticulate and muddled. But I recently watched the DVD with my sons that seemed to clear my thoughts. The reason is entirely because I was able to connect it to another piece of entertainment I had consumed just a week before.

A few weeks ago I picked up Sean Murphy's graphic novel Off Road - a helter skelter retelling of a spiraling, madcap road trip. "Off Road" is the story of three long-time friends who take a newly acquired Jeep into the wild and end up stuck in the woods with no help in sight. Along the way, there is the somewhat rote subplots of friendship being tested and selves being discovered. But what makes the whole thing super entertaining is that Murphy allows us to wallow in the dude-ness of his tale. Its a book about men and men behaving like boys, period. No compromises.

Sean Murphy - who has credits like Batman and Star Wars - is a terrific artist. Operating in black and white, switching between the urgent scrapes of an ink nib and the more lush lines of a brush, Murphy is able to portray a gamut of emotions on his characters faces. When he pans out upwards to depict a scene from overhead - something he does quite often in his book - coolness abounds!

So back to Rock On!!, which I decided to screen for the family after having seen it once before. A quick note - RO is a reasonably safe movie for kids to watch. There are two minor infractions - a gesture that mimics copulation and a reference to drug abuse. They are fleeting - I don't think my sons picked up either.

You could say RO is about a lot of things: about holding on to your passion, about second chances, about never giving up, about music, about friendship. I'd like to make the case that RO works entirely because of its dude-ness.

There are four guys at the heart of RO. All of them reject the straitjacketed life they have been socialized into to connect back with their friends and their dude-ness. And they go do exactly what they did before they were shackled down into being family men.

Farhan Akhtar (Aditya) resolves a marriage on the rocks by going back to being a dude. Luke Kenny (Rob) rises momentarily above his impending demise by embracing the dude life again. Purab Kohli (Kedar), well, never stops being a dude. Arjun Rampal (Joe) walks away from a steady paying job and his wife to let his hair loose and stroke his guitar (metaphor alert!) among friends. Lest we forget, just as his ball buster of a wife crumbles (it is to Shahana Goswami's credit that she manages to pull everyone in her corner in a thankless role), he is egged on to reclaim his back slapping dude-ness by his son - clearly a dude in the making.

The movie itself ends slyly. Life ends well in dude-land. Everyone lands somewhere safe and profitable (except poor Rob who bites the dust - well someone has to die otherwise there is no lasting bittersweetness.) Yes, everyone is married and has responsibilities - but every weekend those can be forgotten as dudes romp around like they did before.

Fair enough, you may argue - but how does that explain why women loved the movie? Despite the fact that Prachi Desai (Sakshi) provides a tried and tested hook for women (supportive, loving sati savitri out to save her husband from himself), I'm not quite sure they organically did.